MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

2/26 Cubs extra bases

Manager Mike Quade won’t be calling for a hit and run early in Spring Training. “I told the club today, it’s not rocket science,” Quade said Saturday on the eve of the first Cactus League game. “[I told them] ‘The first week or two, you guys play, show us what you can do, use your judgement, my catchers will run the running game.’ I want to watch guys play and think on their feet. If I’m creating a bunch of robots, that’s not good.”

* By posting lineups for three games in advance, players get a heads up. “No one can say they weren’t ready,” Quade said.

* Sunday’s game will start at 1:05 p.m. Mountain Time at HoHoKam Park.

* Greg Maddux, a special assistant to general manager Jim Hendry joined the Cubs on Saturday. He will work with the pitchers and do some scouting.

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